Shepherd to Offer Wind Energy Internship

Shepherd University is teaming up with a wind farm in Greenbrier County to teach students about renewable energies through an internship program.

Shepherd University held a symposium on renewable energy Friday as part of the inauguration of the school’s 16^th president, Dr. Mary Hendrix. The symposium featured three speakers Hendrix referred to as “all-star experts” in energy.

Michael Polsky was one of those speakers. Polsky is the founder of Invenergy based out of Chicago, which started commercial operations in West Virginia in November 2015.

Polsky announced that Invenergy’s Beech Ridge Energy Storage Project in Rupert in Greenbrier County will partner with Shepherd University to hire a student each summer to learn about the real-world applications of renewable energy, such as:

“Biological conservation, potentially some others, you know, data collection; things like that,” Polsky explained, “and they will see firsthand, you know, how this project operates and what does it take to operate and maintain them, and hopefully they will tell other people, and there’ll be more interest.”

Polsky says universities shape young minds, so it’s important for them to stay ahead of the curve.

“Institutions like Shepherd University have to be on the forefront of change, of innovation, of really, to provide direction to young people in their career, you know, their future careers, where sort of the world is going, and I feel that energy is one of the really transformational areas we’re witnessing now.”

The internship is an eight week program.